With the steady northeast winds that have been buffeting Beach Haven for the past week and a half, the captains of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association have pretty much been kept at the dock. With Hurricane Joaquin waiting in the wings to decide on its course of action, the captains are battening down the hatches and preparing for the possibility of a storm hit.
Those northeast winds made the conclusion of the 2015 summer flounder fishing season a big flop. Prior to the winds, there were some very decent catches being made around the inshore artificial reef sites. The fish are still there, but there will be no fishing for them until spring of 2015.
The offshore tuna action was going great guns right up until the conditions made travel offshore impossible. Everyone is keeping their fingers crossed that the good bigeye tuna bite will still be active once the ocean calms down again. A few yellowfin had started to make their appearance also, and it is hoped that this bite will continue to improve.
The only real fishing over the past week has been a nice bite on panfish in the calm bay waters. The bay is packed with bait along with a wide variety of juvenile fish. This makes for some good light tackle action on fish such as porgies, black drum, blowfish, black sea bass, small weakfish, even small striped bass, and 1-2 pound bluefish.
Additional information on the captains and boats of the Beach Haven Charter Fishing Association can be found at www.bhcfa.net